Ellie Goulding has opened up about the secret behind her strong and incredibly enviable figure - and it's down to determination, self-confidence, and a few fitness sessions with the McBusted boys.

Oh to be Ellie.

The star posed up in some tight gym gear for a shoot in Women's Health magazine's June issue, as she threw her best kicks and punches for the camera.

Flaunting her toned abs and slim waist, the star proved she's strong in and out as she opened up about her defiant attitude to exercising and blocking out the haters.

Discussing her impressive physique, Ellie told the mag: "I’m not afraid of a guy saying to me that I’m strong. And I will happily post pictures of my muscles on Instagram – because I’m proud of being a strong girl."

And it's not just her body that's strong, she's pretty tough when it comes to her mental state of mind too.

"I Instagram and I tweet and I perform in whatever I want and if you accept that you’re always going to get negativity then you can overcome it," she went on.

Ellie throws an impressive punch (Image: Womens Health UK)

"So when you see a nasty comment, you don’t think, ‘That’s not fair’. It just kind of turns into a blur… I feel strong. I mean, physically I’m strong but I feel like it does add to me being a bit stronger and being able to deflect things easier.

"I feel like when things happen that make me sad – when people might talk about me or when the press might say things about me that aren’t true – I feel like I can deal with it now.”

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The stunning star doesn't let a thing get her down these days - least of all men watching her in the gym.

She told the mag: "Gyms are still dominated by men. I train in a local gym sometimes and there’s a running track in it. I’ll run up and down and not a lot of women would do that. And least of all me because I don’t want to draw attention to myself at the best of times.

"But the men stop what they’re doing and look at you with a smug smile and that bums me out so much. But I won’t stop. I won’t stop running up and down that thing just because they’re staring at me as if what I’m doing is out of the ordinary or unladylike. F*** that."

Woah that's quite a kick Ellie! (Image: Womens Health UK)

But there is a whole different reason for that gorgeous smile. And it begins with a D.

The star is head over heels for her McBusted boyfriend Dougie, and she said: "When I’m with him, I’m just his girlfriend, nothing else. He’s been doing this much longer – which is a first for me. We can have a really healthy understanding of what we do, but we’re not too into it. There’s no ego or anything like that."

Which is a relief.

And the pair are so in sync, they even train together.

"Training with him and the other guys [McBusted] is fun – it’s not hard. Harry [Judd] is actually really good. I won’t say ‘big’ because his head will swell but he’s an inspiration because he trains really hard," Ellie added.

"And so we will often all go to the gym together and a couple of the other girls - the wives - will come down as well and it’s great because my band don’t bloody train. It’s actually nice being with guys who train so much."

* Read the full Ellie Goulding interview and get her exclusive top-to-toe tone up plan in the June issue of Women’s Health – on sale Thursday 7 May. Also available as a digital edition.